Roasted Grape Panzanella Salad

Do you ever find yourself thinking, “Oh yeah! I forgot how much I love (insert random thing here)!”

I do this quite often. It could be the random article of clothing that got stuffed in the back of the closet, a book I read halfway through before getting distracted… It happens. But for me it mostly happens with food. On the never-ending quest for new ingredients, techniques and flavors, some of them inevitably get left in the dust.

Today I’m resurrecting one of my forgotten loves from last year: roasted grapes!

If you haven’t had roasted grapes before, don’t run away from your computer screen just yet! Think about this. Roasting any vegetable – or fruit – brings out its natural sweetness, gives it depth of flavor, makes it more… awesome.

So why not apply this logic to grapes?!

And since we have the oven on, why not toast up some bread and make a panzanella salad?

It’s 2014, after all. Let’s step up our salad game.

As what’s-his-face would’ve said: stop having a boring salad, stop having a boring life!

Roasted Grape Panzanella Salad

If you don't have stale bread, you can just toast it a few minutes longer.

Serves

4-6

Ingredients

2 cups red seedless grapes, removed from stem

Olive oil

Coarse salt & freshly ground black pepper

5 cups cubed (1") stale rustic bread (about 6 ounces)

1 small head fennel, cored and very thinly sliced

2 cups (loosely packed) arugula

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3/4 teaspoon minced fresh sage

1/2 teaspoon honey

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Put grapes on a sheet pan along with 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt and a little pepper. Toss to coat and roast until the grapes are wrinkled and a little deflated, but not completely raisin-like. This could take anywhere from 10-20 minutes depending on the grapes you're using so keep an eye on them!

On a separate sheet pan, toss the cubed bread with a tablespoon of oil, and a little salt & pepper. Bake for 5-8 minutes, until the bread is completely dried out and lightly browned.

Meanwhile make the dressing: whisk together the red wine vinegar, sage, honey and 1/4 cup olive oil. Season to taste with salt & pepper. When the grapes and bread come out of the oven, toss them together in a large bowl with the fennel, arugula and enough dressing to coat well.